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VOC begins service at new Chicopee facility

This classroom at the VOC facility was formerly a boy's lavatory. It is one of the many renovations made to the former school building.Reminder Publications photo by G. Michael Dobbs
By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



CHICOPEE The Valley Opportunity Council (VOC) has provided new life for a former school building and a new anchor in the Willamansett neighborhood.

The new VOC building in the former Mount Carmel School, behind the Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary Church, now provides the space for the VOC programs that had been in a leased building on Center Street and a daycare center also in Willamansett.

Executive Director Stephen Huntley said the cost of the building from the parish was $350,000 and there were $2.6 million in renovations. There was an additional $150,00 in related costs.

He called the building "the missing piece" in the VOC facilities. The agency has programs in five buildings three in Chicopee and two in Holyoke. He would now like to update the other buildings.

He said the agency was lucky there was little asbestos abatement necessary for the building, but the improvement included adding sprinklers throughout the structure, a new heating and cooling system with energy efficient boilers to plumbing, installing an elevator and electrical work.

He said the patience and understanding of the parishioners of the church, especially City Treasurer Ernest LaFlamme, was "outstanding" in the renovation process.

The new facility should have a positive impact on the neighborhood, Huntley said. Approximately 250 people are coming in and out of the building during weekdays that add "an extra 500 eyeballs looking around."

Huntley said the anti-poverty agency bought the school in August 2006 and began the renovations last April. He said agency officials and contractors "spent a lot of time in the building prior to purchase to make sure everything would fit."

"Everything" is the enlarged daycare program, adult education classes, an adult day health program, the senior companion program, the RSVP program and the WIC program. The building is next to the Interstate 391 overpass, which will be the location once again for the Chicopee farmers market sponsored by the VOC.

By grouping all of these services together, the VOC clients often learn of one program when coming to inquire about another, he said.

Huntley took this reporter on a tour of the building that started in the basement that has been refurbished to house the daycare program. The number of children the program can include has increased thanks to the new facility, and Huntley said the agency is obtaining a license for a new after-school program in the fall.

The renovations are extensive with the construction of new walls and rooms as well as new lavatories.

Through the windows one can see one of the two new playground areas built for the children.

While some features of the old school were eliminated, such as the cloak rooms on each floor that were used to house the new elevator, other reminders of the building's educational roots were maintained such as the vintage blackboards in many rooms as well as the marks on the floor where the children's desks were once affixed.

Huntley said they wanted to keep the character of the building wherever they could.

He noted the original wooden handrail for the stairs didn't meet today's building standards, but instead of replacing it a modern steel railing was built around it.

The participants of the adult day health program were having lunch when Huntley was speaking about the program. It is designed to help families caring for relatives with dementia or Alzheimer's disease who do not yet need the services of a nursing home.

And although the three-story building appears to be fully occupied, the agency has room to grow, Huntley added.

For more information on VOC programs call 552-1544 or log onto www.valleyopp.com.